More Impact from Stanford Financial

We wrote last week about the legal problems with Stanford Financial and their impact on the sports sponsorship world.

But it turns out that the impact of Stanford’s alleged $8 million fraud runs even deeper. Several athletes, including major league baseball players Scott Eyre of the Phillies and Johnny Damon and Xavier Nady of the Yankees, are having trouble paying their bills because their assets were tied up with Stanford Financial and have been frozen.

“I can’t pay my bills right now,” Eyre said. “My wife just wrote all these checks to pay bills, and they’re all going to bounce. If it takes a week or two to get my money back, I’m going to have to ask my teammates for some money. Seriously, I’m going to have to ask them that. I can’t get any money out.”

According to several media reports, the athletes did not necessarily have all their money tied up with Stanford, but broker dealers that had accounts with Standord. Damon and Nady have been handcuffed because of holds on their credit card accounts.

Agent Scott Boras said he believes the situation will be resolved soon and that the players are not accused of any wrongdoing.

“The broker dealers the players have chosen have advised our personal management auditors the players are not in jeopardy of losing money,” Boras said. “I understand government agencies are trying to protect the investor. Hopefully, the agencies will distinguish between those investors who are actually invested in Stanford products from investors whose broker dealers used Stanford as a clearing house and are not affected by the potential claims levied by the government.

“I understand government agencies are trying to protect the investor,” Boras told the Associated Press. “Hopefully, the agencies will distinguish between those investors who are actually invested in Stanford products from investors whose broker dealers used Stanford as a clearing house and are not affected by the potential claims levied by the government. I trust government agencies will take quick steps to narrow the affected investor class and restore account access to all others.”